Professional Documents
Culture Documents
by Melissa Karnaze
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You may republish excerpts from this report as long as you provide an attribution link back to http://mindfulconstruct.com.
Science lets us probe our physical universe. It helps us gain greater control over our inner and outer worlds: Through medicine, we have more control over our bodies and our health. Through technology, we have more control over our environment and our productivity.
By using the scientific method, we can secure important answers about ourselves and our world that help us all lead a better life. But science falls short in one very important way. While advancements in science let us study the brain and human behavior, the field of psychology cant tell you how to lead an emotionally healthy and happy life. (At least not in its current stage of development.) This is because science steers clear of Lifes Big Questions that you need answers to in order to lead a fulfilling and meaningful life.
Here are some of Lifes Big Questions that science wont answer for you: What is the meaning of my life? What should I do with my life? How can I make the best of my life? How can I lead a happy life? How can I be emotionally healthy? What do my emotions mean? Why do I have certain emotions (that dont feel good)? Are my emotions good for me or bad for me? How can I make the best of all of my emotions?
These are really important questions. How you answer them and that you answer them at all directly impacts your future.
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In this report, Ill show you five specific reasons why science falls short in answering Lifes Big Questions. Youll see how important it is for you to take matters into your own hands. Ill explain these five reasons in a way thats easy to understand. And in the last section Ill suggest how to start finding your own answers to Lifes Big Questions today.
Science isnt equipped to provide us with all the answers to life. Heres how the authors of Introducing Evolutionary Psychology describe it:
The quality of human life has improved since the birth of the scientific method, but we still struggle as a species to lead happy and healthy lives. (Especially when science and technology create more problems than they solve.)
Questions about ethics are part of Lifes Big Questions. Science cant tell you whats right or wrong behavior, or how you should live your life. It can only make factual claims that you can then choose to use or discard when deciding upon these things for yourself. Therefore, its your job alone to answer these questions. How you answer them and that you answer them at all directly impacts your emotional well-being.
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5 Reasons Why Science Wont Give You All the Answers to Life
According to Evans & Zarate, science can only make factual claims. Lets deconstruct this: Science can only observe how the physical universe operates. Rightness and wrongness are human constructs, not physical things. Likewise, how you should live your life is not a physical thing; science cant figure it out. To be more specific, science can only observe how the physical universe operates from the limited perspective of the human mind. Because humans conduct science, and they perceive through their minds. To be even more specific, the limited perspective of the human mind isnt objective at all meaning the factual claims created by science arent even all that factual in the way that we understand the term. Dont worry if this seems complicated right now. By the end of this report youll have a better understanding. It took my entire undergraduate study of cognitive science to really see this bigger picture of science. Ive broken up what I learned from four years into this 23-page report. In the next sections, well explore these five reasons why science cant answer Lifes Big Questions let alone give you all the answers to life. Heres an outline:
Reason #1: Reason #2: Reasons #3: Reasons #4: Reason #5:
Science is a Cultural Practice (p. 4) The Scientific Method is Subjective (p. 9) Science Minimizes Your Subjective Experience (p.11) Science is Often Disconnected from the Real World (p. 15) Science Cant Show You the Bigger Picture (p. 18)
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We think of science as something dry and clean. An unemotional, logical, calculated, pristine process. In other words, we think of science as being objective. Meaning that its nobler than our individual notions of the world which are highly subjective, and thus, less accurate. Science is supposed to be sterilized, but its not. Its a tool, yes. A powerful tool at times. But like any tool, its how its used that matters. Science is only as dry, clean, unemotional, logical, calculated, or pristine as are the human scientists using it. And as we know human behavior isnt very dry, clean, unemotional, logical, calculated, or pristine. Were messy, emotional, full of assumptions and expectations, easily pricked, often cliquey, vulnerable to groupthink, and most definitely susceptible to dysfunctional beliefs and behaviors. And were the ones steering science. Because science is conducted by people. Its a cultural practice
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So that they can make meaning out of numbers and find patterns. To then make important conclusions which they can report to other organizations, and maybe even the public. It may seem like statistics is rock-solid because its math. But consider a recent debate within cognitive science. One of my former UC San Diego professors, along with three colleagues, published a paper accusing lots of social neuroscientists of misusing statistical methods to make their brain data essentially look pretty. These social neuroscientists did this so to make sensational claims from largely inconclusive data. The paper, Puzzlingly High Correlations in fMRI Studies of Emotion, Personality, and Social Cognition, was originally titled, Voodoo Correlations in Social Neuroscience. The take-away point is this: Its tempting for researchers to interpret brain data in the ways they want to see it. So that the results can reinforce their assumptions, beliefs, affiliations, agendas, and subjective worldviews. This goes for other fields as well, especially the softer sciences like psychology. 4) Publication If researchers are lucky, their work gets published in well-known scientific journals. But only if it gains the approval of those in charge of a particular publication. The process is called peer-review; your research is evaluated by your peers. Because your peers are people, they dont necessarily base their judgments on purely objective and fair standards. In other words, your wonderful study may not get published if youre not in the club. The club has many rules about subjects and theories that are not currently in fashion. Intelligent design isnt in fashion. The existence of supernatural forces isnt in fashion. The result of negative side effects from many vaccinations isnt in fashion. And studying the effects of mind control isnt in fashion because the American Psychological Association wont look into it. Yet hop on over to another major institution like the CIA and youll find that its been avidly researching mind
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control for decades. Remember, every institution is a cultural practice. Its not culturally acceptable yet for U.S. mainstream mental health to explore the topic of mind control. (And the reasons are way too complex for the scope of this report.) Publication is the backbone of academia, and academia is the backbone of scientific research. So publication, the backbone of scientific research, is guided by human judgment peer review panels, editors, and in some cases, censorship. 5) Application Once a study is published and taken seriously enough by the scientific community at large, its findings may then be translated into some new application, drug, or other product or service that can reach the public. So the research enters the social space of governments, nonprofits, small businesses, and corporations. This means that the research gets even more entangled with politics. In 2009, Uncle Sam created the swine flu scare by over-hyping the disease as part of pro-vaccination propaganda. In a perfect world, the U.S. medical system has Americas health at heart but in reality its heavily influenced by politics, and will push drugs and applications when so instructed by a government that doesnt always look out for your best interests. Heres a quick reference to a website that investigates Big Brothers big hand in shaping science and many other major institutions (like the medical system) that are founded upon science: WantToKnow.info. Its not essential that you study this website to follow the rest of this report, but it can certainly help. Mindful Construct pulls back the veils that co-construct human experience. WantToKnow pulls back the veils that mass media puts in place so youll trust your government and other authoritative institutions to always have your back.
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Because the people who run science arent always interested or even able to answer your Big Life Questions.
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The scientific method is guided by faith, colored by assumption, and driven by the constraints of human perception. (You may want to review the six steps of the scientific
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3) Fitting Data to Preexisting Scientific Theory The researchers interpretation of their data must fit in with the thought styles, or theoretical frameworks, that are currently in fashion among the scientific community at large. Galileos theory that the sun was the center of the solar system didnt bode well with the geocentric consensus of his time. Because the grip of the church convinced the masses that the humans Gods ultimate creation were figuratively and literally at the center of the universe. And while were onto theory, heres another important point about the scientific method: 4) Dependence on Limited Scientific Theory Scientific theories are elaborate claims about how physical phenomena operate. A claim is an argument. Arguments cant be proven right or wrong; they can only be supported by evidence. Likewise, scientific theories cant be proven right; they can only be supported by evidence. And then they can be supported by more and better evidence over time. Or, they can be discarded or at least weakened in the presence of contradictory evidence. Scientific knowledge is never complete. Were constantly exploring and searching for better explanations and models for how our physical universe works.
Observation without assumption, which psychologically is nonsense and logically a game, can therefore be dismissed.
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Its only in recent decades that this statement can be clarified by actual brain research. Cognitive science has taught us that any act of human observation is constrained by personal constructs about how the world operates. The mind is primed to make assumptions and predictions about the world to enhance your ability to adapt to your environment and survive. In his monograph, Fleck deconstructs the sanctity of science in showing that objectivity cant be separated from subjectivity. Most scientists today are either unaware of this insight, or arent mindful of it. Because they are notorious for using science as a way to beat down subjectivity, or the power of personal experience
Because scientific facts arent always objective, but rather part of a larger cultural and historical context. That greater context may or may not help you answer your Big Life Questions.
The scientific method isnt completely objective because its conducted by the human mind.
Ive had a few college professors who really look down on the layman. I cant stand that term by the way. They view laypersons as ignorant, misguided, and charmed by folk psychology. If you havent heard the term before, chances are those professors look down on you too in
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secret of course. Or at least only in their labs or when amongst colleagues and loyal students. Folk psychology is a loose term for any model that people use to understand the world that the scientific community doesnt approve of. Anger gets stored in the body is a folk psychological model, since its not been supported by the bulk of mental health professionals.
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intervention. The Generation website states that its efforts have mitigated the symptoms and recovered thousands of children across the globe. Of course, this publicity doesnt sit well with the scientific community. Even though the origins of autism are still little understood, researchers discredit that outside forces like vaccinations could cause the onset of symptoms (to which McCarthy attributes her sons autism development). In other words, most of the scientific community sees McCarthy as spreading lies, false hope, and seriously misguiding thousands of other parents at the expense of all that scientific progress stands for. During her 2007 appearance on Oprah, Jenny McCarthy explained her defiance in the face of sciences large body of evidence disproving her claims:
As Generation Rescue continues to grow, McCarthy knows that the debate isnt just a battle of studies but a thing of politics, as we explored in Reasons #1 and 2. Its not yet socially acceptable to question vaccinations or the cover-ups surrounding their deleterious ingredients. (Check out WantToKnow.info to learn more.) But McCarthy didnt blindly follow the general consensus when she had to answer some of Lifes Big Questions, such as: Why did this my son develop autism? Is there anything I can do to help? Can he recover? How?
Instead, she decided that science didnt have all her answers. So she took the response ability to find them on her own.
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Jenny McCarthy turned her back on the mainstream of doctors, researchers, and medical professionals. It didnt matter to her whether all MDs and PhDs respected her opinion. Her response ability to her sons condition is what mattered most. There will come a time, if it hasnt already, that youll need to take response ability to find your own answers. Without the support of a mainstream institution. Even if that means facing ridicule, losing respect, or alienating others.
The Scientific Community Doesnt Have to Care About Your Quality of Life
In order for the scientific community to investigate Lifes Big Questions thoroughly, it needs to become entrenched with daily, subjective, highly personal experience. Its not meant to dabble in that arena its supposed to stick to factual claims. As a natural by-product, scientists may judge, condemn, or ridicule you when you make decisions based on daily, subjective, highly personal experience. Just as McCarthy did. But you are entrenched with daily, subjective, highly personal experience because youre the one living your life! Which means you are the only person qualified to make those important life decisions that direct your future!
Because it often antagonizes your ability to answer Lifes Big Questions on your own.
Scientists look down upon anecdotal evidence and personal experience. But you need to pay attention to personal experience because that is your life.
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university. So research can dabble on surface-level topics. (Remember how the APA wont go near mind control?) Or focus on the treating symptoms rather finding solutions to problems.
Besides that being an immense undertaking and not to mention an unethical invasion of privacy, the scientific community will have nothing of it. Because the conclusions would mean a complete overhaul of how we as a society raise our children and relate to one another as adults. And this would require complete overhaul of how mental health operates. If we all learned emotional intelligence skills at an early age, we wouldnt need nearly as many therapists or bottles of Prozac Big Pharma and Big Brother wouldnt really like that.
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But even so, the grace period is slowly waning. Because attachment studies increasingly show how relationships between a caregiver and infant greatly affect the childs development and adult relationships later on in life.
Science can only make limited claims, based on data mostly derived from the lab.
Because in order to answer many of Lifes Big Questions, you need to be able to make bold claims whether or not verifiable data is available. Bold claims come from real life experience, not from the lab.
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Science cant explain why on the morning of September 11th, 2001, certain people were delayed from making it to work when others werent. Or why cancer goes through spontaneous remission in some patients, yet takes the lives of others. When it comes to these existential questions, science falls short. (Of course, this could change.) The scientifically-minded may say, Well those are irrelevant questions. Manufactured by a mind seeking answers to the unanswerable. And yes, its quite a possibility. But people need answers to Lifes Big Questions to go on as effectively as they can. People need meaning to order their lives; its what the brain was designed to do. When science doesnt answer Lifes Big Questions, people settle for what something that gets them through even if only temporarily.
There are a lot of questions about your life and its meaning that science isnt prepared to investigate. Its only equipped to investigate physical things in the universe.
Because your Big Life Questions dont always involve physical things.
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This report has shown you how science is more limited than people typically imagine it to be. Hopefully, you can see how important it is to find your own answers to Lifes Big Questions when science doesnt (yet) have them. Science wont give you all the answers to life, but its still very good at investigating. And its powerful in our world. I encourage you to pay attention to science, especially as its pitched by the media. I encourage you to be as scientifically literate as you can, and think critically about the studies you read. It will drastically help you sharpen your discernment. Which will help you tremendously in answering those Big Life Questions.
Now that you understand why you cant rely on science to answer all of your Big Life Questions, here are some helpful ways you can start finding your own answers today:
Youre the only one who can answer this question, because the answer doesnt exist out there. Its an answer that you create for yourself. So remember that the meaning of life is what you make it, and embrace your inner existentialist.
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To do what you really believe in, it helps to be mindful of how you are currently constructing your life, and then focus on building your life as a mindful construct.
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why you need to work with all of your emotions to help clear up your vision. Your vision is shaped by your cognitive networks of thoughts, beliefs, assumptions, and expectations about the world all of which your emotions reflect. So follow your emotions back to the those cognitive networks, and in so doing youll start to uncover your subconscious mind.
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Now, because humans evolved culture, oftentimes you can inherit dysfunctional cultural beliefs about your environment or what you need to survive. When this is the case, your emotions still reflect those cognitive networks, even if they are dysfunctional. So its important to remember that when your emotions appear bad for you they can be traced back to the cognitive networks that gave cause for them in the first place. Its those cognitive networks that need to be repaired, not the emotions. In this sense, your bad emotions are actually good for you, because in addition to alarming of danger in your environment they alarm of any dangerous cognitive networks you might have.
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